30The English Bourgeois Revolution and the Commonwealth (1629 – 1660)

The struggle of Parliament against the king began in England in the 12th century, Each king wanted to rule over the country without any parliament. King Charles I was at war with Spain and France and wanted money for it. The Parliament refused to give the money. King Charles I dismissed the Parliament (1629) and for eleven years ruled over the country without the council of the people. The Parliament opened again only in 1640 and opposed the king. The parties began to prepare for war. The king and his soldiers were in Oxford. The soldiers of the Parliament with Oliver Cromwell at the head were in London. In the Civil War which lasted for twelve years the Parliament won the victory. King Charles I was executed as enemy of the country. The Commonwealth was proclaimed and Oliver Cromwell became the Protector of the new republic. The end of the Commonwealth came after Cromwell died (1658). England was at war with Spain at that time. The government was too weak and the new Parliament decided to have a king.

31 The art and literature of 19^th century in UK.

The training of artists, which had long been weak, began to be improved by private and government initiatives in the 18th century, and greatly expanded in the 19th, and public exhibitions and later the opening of museums brought art to a wider public, especially in London. In the 19th century publicly displayed religious art once again became popular, after a virtual absence since theReformation, and, as in other countries, movements such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Glasgow School contended with established Academic art. The British contribution to early Modernist art was relatively small, but since World War II British artists have made a considerable impact on Contemporary art, especially with figurative work, and Britain remains a key centre of an increasingly globalized art world.

34 England as the first republic in Europe.

The first republic in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire was England - or the Commonwealth of England as it was called. It was created by the controversial figure of Oliver Cromwell and it marked the end of the "Divine Right of Kings" - the idea that kings were appointed by God to rule. Cromwell belonged to a group called the Independents. They believed in religious freedom and limiting the power of the monarch. In the English civil war Cromwell formed the New Model Army and demonstrated great military prowess in defeating King Charles’ ‘cavaliers’.Members of the New Model Army received proper military training and by the time they went into battle in 1644 they were very well-disciplined.In the past, people became officers because they came from powerful and wealthy families. In the New Model Army men were promoted when they showed themselves to be good soldiers.For the first time it became possible for working-class men to become army officers.Cromwell thought it was very important that soldiers in the New Model Army believed strongly in what they were fighting for. Where possible he recruited men who, like him, held strong Puritan views and the New Model Army went into battle singing psalms, convinced that God was on their side.King Charles I was eventually executed as traitor and Cromwell became ‘Lord Protector’ of the Commonwealth – a chief executive.In August 1649, Cromwell and 12,000 soldiers arrived in Ireland. During the next ten years of bloodshed it is estimated that about a third of the population was either killed or died of starvation.The majority of Roman Catholics who owned land had it taken away from them and were removed to the barren province of Connacht. Catholic children were shipped to Barbados and sold to the planters as slaves!You can imagine what the Irish think about Oliver’s army even today.After Cromwell’s death the role of Lord Protector was taken by his incompetent son. Without Oliver Cromwell’s strong presence the Commonwealth fell apart and the monarchy, in the person of King Charles II, was restored.The English Republic lasted from 1649 – 1660 and the English show little willingness to repeat the experiment. But who knows? The next monarch will be King Charles III. The first two lived in interesting times.

35British constitution.

The constitution of the United Kingdom is the set of laws and principles under which the United Kingdom is governed.^[1]

Unlike many other nations, the UK has no single core constitutional document. In this sense, it is said not to have a written constitution but an uncodified one.^[2]Much of the British constitution is embodied in written documents, within statutes, court judgments, and treaties. The constitution has other unwritten sources, including parliamentary constitutional conventions (as laid out in Erskine May) and royal prerogatives.

Since the English Civil War, the bedrock of the British constitution has traditionally been the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, according to which the statutes passed by Parliament are the UK's supreme and final source of law.^[3] It follows that Parliament can change the constitution simply by passing new Acts of Parliament. There is some debate about whether this principle remains entirely valid today,^[4] in part due to the UK's European Union membership.

36 Population and religion in UK.

For much of the last 2,000 years Britain's population has been in the low millions - a result of poor diet, famines, wars, diseases and primitive health care, which have all helped ensure that life for many has been nasty, brutal and short.

Catastrophes such as the Black Death played their part in keeping population figures down, and reduced the number of the British people almost by half in the 1300s.

The Plague returned periodically over the next three centuries, in a series of local and national epidemics, which led to a huge loss of life. For much of this period most of the population lived in the countryside, with London being the only major urban centre.

By the 1550s, the population had nearly recovered to the pre-Black Death level, and there were steady increases during the 1600s and 1700s. However, through the 1800s the population virtually doubled every 50 years. The increase would have been even greater, but many people emigrated in search of a better way of life, to the United States and then in the British Dominions.

In Ireland, in the latter half of the 19th and much of the 20th centuries, the population declined, or remained relatively static. This was due to the potato famine, which killed approximately one million people, and because of high levels of emigration to the New World and to Britain.

Religion in the United Kingdom and the states that pre-dated the UK, was dominated by forms of Christianity for over 1,400 years.^[1] Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,^[2] while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths.^[3]

According to the 2001 UK census, Christianity is the major religion, followed by Islam, Hinduism, Neo-Paganism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism in terms of number of adherents. This, and the relatively large number of individuals with nominal or no religious affiliations has led commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith,^[4]secularised,^[5] or post-Christian society.^[6]

Due to the United Kingdom having been formed by the union of previously independent states from 1707,^[7][8][9] most of the largest religious groups do not have UK-wide organisational structures. While some groups have separate structures for the individual countries of the United Kingdom, others may have a single structure coveringEngland and Wales or Great Britain. Similarly, due to the relatively recent creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, most major religious groups in Northern Ireland are organised on an all-Ireland basis.

38 Commonwealth of Nations.

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states. All but two of these countries (Mozambique and Rwanda) were formerly part of the British Empire, out of which it developed.

The member states cooperate within a framework of common values and goals as outlined in the Singapore Declaration. These include the promotion of democracy,human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace.^[1] The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental organisation through which countries with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status.

Activities of the Commonwealth are carried out through the permanent Commonwealth Secretariat, headed by the Secretary-General, and biennial meetings betweenCommonwealth Heads of Government. The symbol of their free association is the Head of the Commonwealth, which is a ceremonial position currently held by Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeth II is also monarch, separately and independently, of sixteen Commonwealth members, which are known as the "Commonwealth realms".

The Commonwealth is a forum for a number of non-governmental organisations, collectively known as the Commonwealth Family, which are fostered through the intergovernmental Commonwealth Foundation. The Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth's most visible activity,^[2] are a product of one of these organisations. These organisations strengthen the shared culture of the Commonwealth, which extends through common sports, literary heritage, and political and legal practices.^[3]Due to this, Commonwealth countries are not considered to be "foreign" to one another.^[4] Reflecting this, diplomatic missions between Commonwealth countries are designated as High Commissions rather than embassies.

40 Britain as a constitutional monarchy.

Constitutional monarchy (or limited monarchy) is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution. This form of government differs from absolute monarchy in which an absolute monarch serves as the source of power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and has the powers to regulate his or her respective government.

Most constitutional monarchies employ a parliamentary system in which the monarch may have strictly ceremonial duties or may have reserve powers, depending on the constitution. Under most modern constitutional monarchies there is also a prime minister who is the head of government and exercises effective political power.

Contemporary constitutional monarchies include the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms, Belgium, Bhutan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Denmark, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait,Liechtenstein, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden and Thailand.

There also exist today several federal constitutional monarchies. In these countries, each subdivision has a distinct government and head of government, but all subdivisions share a monarch who is head of state of the federation as a united whole. The latest country that was completely transformed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional democratic monarchy is Bhutan.